Nigel to the rescue

As everyone is now aware I have been ill with the Flu.  I have never had Flu before.  It confined me to my bed and my son to nursery.  It made me miserable and to top it off, I got tonsillitis.  I needed to eat but needed something warm, restorative, a hug in a bowl if you like.  I skipped ahead a recipe and found a wonderfully simple recipe for "A Spring Soup of Young Leeks and Miso" that ticked all the boxes.

The recipe is on pages 102 - 104 of Nigel's book and there is no picture.  In his accompanying diary entry Nigel provides a comprehensive lesson on Miso, which for me is the main feature of this recipe.  I bought mine in the Japanese Centre (as previously cited) but you can buy it local supermarkets.  Nigel even supports the use of the instant variety.  To be honest using the paste is just as easy and as Nigel says, once you dissolve in stock you can control the flavour level you want.  Here is my miso:

Nigel also advises that, once opened it will keep sealed in a container in the fridge for weeks. Which I am delighted about.

The soup was easy, and in my frail condition thank goodness!  Essentially adding vegetables according to their cooking time to the pot of stock and miso:

I served it in a plan white bowl and ladled the hot soup down which soothed my sore throat, warmed my tummy and tickled what tastebuds I had left:

It was delightful and after tweeting the above picture, Nigel sent me a get well tweet which gave me another pick me up.  Thank you Nigel!

JanieCooksNigel
6/4/16